it had been in the courtyard where it used to ring in the show. >> part of our legacy and it used to rings the announcement that the show was ready to go and ring to come back after intermission. >> reporter: this bell rang until september 24, 2004, when the hill barn bell was stolen from the courtyard after opening night. >> this bell has been with us for over 70 years of hill barn's history. it was unfortunately stolen where it was located outside of our current location about six years ago. >> reporter: the bell built in 1908 was part of grace chapel where the community theater began, too. it ended up in a scrap metal shop where an anonymous caller found their bell. >> after googling the inscription on the bell and found out it belonged to hill barn. we called the police. the chief of police went to the scrap metal place, verified it, claimed it and returned it to us on friday. >> reporter: which happened to be the hill barn 70th anniversary. the bell defines the theater here and they thought it was gone for good. >> never thought they would find it. >> wow. we thought it had been